China Battling Gigantic Masses Of Duckweed, Algae, Water Lettuce In Polluted Rivers & Estuaries

[hatrack]

Authorities in Shanghai are fighting to rid the city's waterways of duckweed, a green aquatic plant that multiplies in polluted waters, and warned the eyesore will spread rapidly in the coming months. Massive stretches, estimated at about 390,000 sq m, in the upper reaches of Huangpu River in suburban Shanghai's Jinshan, Qingpu, and Jiading districts, are covered with the floating plant, which has found a home in the water body for the second consecutive year.

Yu Hai, spokesman for the municipal city appearance and sanitation administration, said the plant is not a threat to the city's supply of drinking water. "Unlike the blue-green algae, duckweed does not discharge toxics into the water. It's more of a visual pollutant."

EDIT

Further south in the city of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, authorities are struggling to uproot stretches of water lettuce, floating in the city's rivers, ponds and reservoirs. Water lettuce, academically known as pistia stratiotes, is an aggressive free-floating plant with many spongy, dusty green leaves, which can form thick mats atop water bodies. The mats, once covering the entire surface of the water, can cause oxygen depletion and kill fish. "Water lettuce has been more unbridled than ever before. We have flagged off some 700 boats to pull the plant out of the water and have set up five posts to watch its formation at several legs of the Pearl River," said Liu Yueren, an official with the municipal environment and sanitation administration of Guangzhou. Last month, authorities pulled out over 400 tons of water lettuce from the Pearl River in just five hours, Liu said.

EDIT

ingdao authorities are racing to think of ways to fight a thick algae cluster fast approaching the coastal town. According to the latest satellite observation tracking the flow of the algae, the north side of the cluster, covering an expanded area of 140 sq km, is only 62 km from Dagong Island, south of Qingdao. The cluster is flowing northward at a speed of 8-11 km per day, China National Radio said on Wednesday.

EDIT

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/19/content_8301172.htm

[appal_jack]

1. Resources out-of-place

These plants grow in nutrient-abundant waters, and are useful as livestock feeds (just about everything can eat duckweed, apparently only pigs tolerate water lettuce - www.apms.org/japm/vol20/v20p56.pdf). We humans have got to learn to conserve and cycle our agricultural inputs better.

-app

[azul]

2. Figure out how to put it into gas tanks and go.

Slow down on building coal energy plants in the process, and look really greenish.

Or like in reply 1, feed it to critters, and then harness the methane to power the go-karts too.

[create.peace]

3. slimy killer rock snot invades new york....

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/slimy-killer-rock-snot-invades-new-york